powerful
by VulpesUrsae
Summary: You already knew her name... Adora: valedictorian, 4.2 GPA, sports goddess and you wanted to laugh because you said her name too. When she cornered you during the office worker period you shared and stole your breath with a kiss, you said her name, it crawled up your throat and made you grip her tighter, the don't stops and fucks and breathy pleading spilling out all the same...


You stare at the notebook, its blank pages taunting you as you try to figure out where to start. You have just about twenty notebooks with random entries laying around your room in various spots, but you just had to have this one. It called to you, with its cute German Shepherd puppy cover and the bright blue ribbon for a bookmark. In truth you have no idea what to put it in this one. Your feelings have been absolutely all over the place this year. You lost your v-card, went to your first party, snuck out to said party... and you got your powers. Everyone knows the story of the sun and the moon, lovers separated by their duty and the expanse of the sky. Everyone knows the story of Romeo and Juliet, two soulmates separated by family ties, destined to die together.

You grew up on fairy tales where Prince Charming learns how to fly the first time he kisses Cinderella, and she is given foresight to guide their path into the sunset. That one is sweet, but it's Disney, so that's to be expected. The rest are tragic, and you're sick of tragic love stories. But it's not like yours is going any better. Your soulmate doesn't even want to be your soulmate. Go figure. Useless powers and a soulmate who doesn't even want you.

Suddenly, inspiration. You could write about her and how crazy things have gotten with her. How fucking head over heels you are for this big, stupid, dumb, asshole jock who breaks your heart but just can't seem to leave you alone. You tap the pen against the first page and begin to write.

You already knew her name. You knew her just like everyone knew her name, _Adora, Adora, Adora,_ they screamed at every sporting event, because she was the star player. Valedictorian, 4.2 GPA, sports goddess and you wanted to laugh because you said her name too. When she cornered you during the office worker period you shared and stole your breath with a kiss, you said her name, it crawled up your throat and made you grip her tighter, the don't stops and fucks and breathy pleading spilling out all the same. _Adora..._

You'll be the first to admit that math is far from your thing. It's so far from being your thing that you're positive some of the teachers in previous years of public school education passed you out of pity, and because you asked them how their day was going every other day. This year was no different. You were barely keeping your nose above water in pre-cal. You didn't know what it was about the formulas and numbers in this class, but it was almost like another language to you, and going to tutorials was the only thing that kept your grades good enough to keep from failing.

Mr. Sky, your teacher, was a bit worried about it, especially because it seemed like you were giving the shit your all, and you swear you were. You don't study, it's not your thing, but you had to to get by. With finals coming up on the horizon and you bombing nearly every test you'd taken, Mr. Sky called in the calvary, the calvary coming in the form of a certain blonde athlete.

Another session of tutorials after school rolls around and you took your usual seat. You were pretty used to the procession of this: you came in, did any work you needed to make up and asked for help as needed, and left when it was time to go. Everyone left each other alone for the most part, unless you'd come with friends. You sat by yourself today, because Bow was absent. He usually came with you to everything as your partner in crime, your brother from another mother (or father because he has two), your best friend and ride or die, but alas, sickness had assaulted your best buddy, and he was currently at home trying to keep food down. So the last thing you were expecting was someone to come and sit next to you. You looked up from digging in your bag for that day's assignment into the bluest eyes you'd ever seen.

"Hey, I'm your student tutor for today. My name's Adora," the girl greeted you eagerly, and held out a hand for you to shake. You were stuck processing the encounter for a moment, because _Adora frickin' Ramos_ was tutoring you in your worst subject. That was a miracle straight from some deity. Speaking of deities, silently you thanked the First Ones, because there was no way you'd bomb the final if the frickin' valedictorian was showing you how to do things.

You processed the encounter and took her hand. For a moment it was just two strangers shaking hands to be polite, but then electricity ran up your arm like you touched a livewire and it burned its way straight to your heart, which kicked into overdrive. Adora's eyes widen in surprise, which lead you to think the exact same sensation happened to her. You met her eyes, colored a shade darker in confusion. The same question hovered over both of you: _what the fuck just happened?_

You pulled your hand away from hers, and the electricity faded away, leaving you almost aching for it to come back. It felt weird to let go after feeling so... so connected. You shook off the feeling, filing the event away in your consciousness for later fretting over, and went back to pulling out that day's assignment from your super cluttered bag (you really really needed to clean it out; you would've probably dropped like twenty pounds of weight). Finally locating the elusive paper, you put it down on the desk and sighed. "Wh... Whatever just happened... let's just get through this. Then we can talk. If you want." You brought your gaze back up to hers, and immediately noticed she was a bit further away. It was almost an imperceptible distance but you could tell she scooted away. _Was... it worse for her?_

"Yeah... sounds like a plan," Adora replied, her eyebrows knitted together in concern. Shaking her head quickly to clear whatever fog there was from her mind, she took the paper from the desk and read over it, making a noise in the back of her throat. "Looks like this is standard stuff." She took out a sheet of scratch paper and began to show you in detail how to solve the first problem, leaning over the desk, her hair falling over her shoulders, parting the way for an undercut. You found yourself leaning closer.

She smelled like the earth after a storm and pine trees, you noted, before catching yourself. _Smelling people is weird, Glimm__er! _You had to remind yourself to pay attention to the process, because you were gonna have to do the next problem. You resolved to get down to business and pay some damn attention for once. "Cross multiply here..."

By the time you guys were done, you had a very good grasp of the concept, and an even better grasp of the finer workings of staring at Adora Ramos, with her tanned skin and cut jawline and amazing scent. At the exit of the building, she stopped you, offering to help more if you wanted to meet up to do homework sometime or something. Before you could even consider saying no, you found yourself handing your phone over for her to put her number into, and you typing your info into hers, adding a sparkle emoji for personality.

It wasn't until you got home that it occurred to you that you might've developed the beginnings of a crush, and that you were now able to teleport.

You were seconds away from getting all settled into bed to text Bow and maybe watch some YouTubers scream at the top of their lungs at a horror game. You began your descent, ready to faceplant into the plush of your beautiful, wonderful, not school related bed... and promptly hit the island in the kitchen instead, banging your head and making your nose bleed like someone stabbed you.

"Ow, ow, fuuuuuck..." You were utterly confused (and in pain), because weren't you just about to hit the softness of your bed? Instead of comfy plush, you got marble finished island (and _pain_). Fucking ow. You danced in place, holding your nose and cursing quietly before trying to find something to stop the homicide scene coming from your bruised cranium. Settling on a nearby dish towel, you tilted your head back and wiped up what blood you could see through the tears settling on your eyelashes.

"Okay, what the fuck..." Well, despite your momentary confusion, it was clear what had happened. You'd teleported, and you'd never done that prior to that exact moment which meant that...

The dishtowel slipped from your hand. "Shit. First Ones, you sure know how to pick em. Adora is my soulmate," you said out loud into the silence. Your mom was at work, so you were speaking to whatever lived in the walls or to the walls themselves. No telling which. It just sounded better to say out loud.

You wondered if the First Ones would reconsider. Like, maybe take the teleporting away and switch you or Adora with someone else. You knew what you were in for with Adora. Between sports and her other commitments... what time would you guys have for strengthening a bond? You paced for a moment, thinking... then it hit you like you hit your face on the marble. You already had the perfect excuse to get closer to her, to explore the bond forged by the Firsts: pre cal tutoring.

You were so excited, you ended up teleporting to the living room and startling the fur off your cat Bow Jr. (BJ for short), bloody dishtowel and pain completely forgotten. You scooped the little brunette feline up into your arms and twirled on the spot, grinning like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland and bunching up your mom's favorite rug. BJ meowed in annoyance and wiggled out of your elated grasp, sitting on his haunches and licking down the fur you'd displaced during your celebration.

Falling lightly in the couch next to BJ, you squealed, the soaring feeling in your chest needing to come out somehow. If you'd known it wouldn't mess up your voice before choir the next day, you would've gotten on your roof and screamed to the entire neighborhood that you found your soulmate. What a way to get the neighbors gossiping. Still, your squeal spread into the relative silence of your living room, and so does your whisper. "I have a _soulmate_...!"

In books you'd read before, this was a moment full of romanticness, or whatever the word was. The soulmates would dance, or kiss, or fight to the death, or just something! As far as realizations go, yours was anticlimactic, underwhelming, but to you it felt like the world, and someone other than you and your cat needed to know.

You stood up, and tried to teleport. You clenched your fists, crouched a tiny bit and focused on your room, the feeling of being there. With the smallest of flashes, you teleported a few feet in the direction of the stairs.

You tried again. Same result. You peered up at your room's doorstep from the bottom and tried one last time, closing your eyes to focus harder.

Opening your eyes, you found yourself at your door, and you were exhausted.

Heading inside and sitting down next to your phone, the screen darkened then from inactivity, you snatched a blank notebook from your stack of notebooks and journals and grabbed a sharpie from your desk. Tapping the cover rhythmically for a moment, you tried to figure out the perfect title to bestow on the most important notebook of your life to date. "Powers Testing" sounded too drab and boring. "Powers of the Soul" sounded too... spirity. Hmm.

"Aspects of my Powers"?

"Figuring Out my Powers"?

Shit.

You decided to text the wisest person you know, next to your mom: Bow.

**Cake**: bow

**Cake**: bow

**Cake**: bow

**Cake**: bow ik ur sick but I need ur help

**Pan**: mission accepted what can i do for you today my dear best friend

**Cake**: i found my soulmate

You were in the middle of following up with the rest of the explanation, but Bow decided to call you, which effectively ended that. You answered the call.

**_"WHAT?!?"_**

_Ow. Rest in peace eardrum._ You switched sides, holding your ear and turning down the call volume to spare your unhurt eardrum the pain of what felt like an auditory beating.

"I found my soulmate, Bow. And get this: I can fricking teleport."

You flopped back onto your pillow and sighed in happiness. Bow was jazzed. "Holy cow, Glim, that's awesome! How did it happen?"

You recount the events of the day with every thought and stray detail you can think of. "I mean, Bow, it's better than the fairytales say it is. The way it feels to connect with them..." You turned over and hugged your pillow to your chest, kicking your feet as you relived it. "It's almost painful to break it."

You could hear the stars in your best friend's eyes already through the phone. "I'm so happy for you Glim!" He coughed then, groaning a bit. "S-Sorry, this sickness is kicking my butt. Hopefully with some Nyquil I'll be back tomorrow to help you ask Adora out."

You grinned again. "Hey, what is that supposed to mean? They call me Glimmer because when I walk in the room I blind everyone with my beauty; Adora will be asking me out, if anything."

Bow laughed, his voice cracking on the reply. "They call you Glimmer because that's the name you chose," he teased, and you stuck your tongue out at him even though he couldn't see it.

"Because I was fabulous before I transitioned and I still shine like a star. I would've named myself Sparkles if I didn't think it sounded like a pet's name," you remarked, imagining yourself up on stage in a beautiful dress, singing your heart out while under a lone spotlight.

"I still think we should've called ourselves Pancake and Waffle," Bow jokes. "It's like Criss Cross, or Salt and Pepa." He broke into a wheezy rendition of Push It, which had you crying with laughter.

You wiped a tear from the corner of your eye. "O-Okay, sure, when we get rich and famous, we'll totally call our act Pancake and Waffle. Meanwhile you need to work on your singing. Your Salt and Pepa cover sounds unseasoned," you joked, collapsing into another bout of laughter.

Bow laughed too. "If everything goes right, I might never have to sing. I can just dance, or shoot a flaming arrow through an apple on your head. Speaking of..."

You cut him off. "No, whatever you're about to ask concerning my head, a bow and arrow, and a camera, nooo."

Bow had a YouTube channel where he basically used his namesake to do all sorts of cool and dangerous things. He was fairly famous online, but he always wore a mask because his dads were a bit overprotective. So did you, when you starred in his videos as the guinea pig for his "experiments".

"I just want to do the bottlecap challe--"

"Noooooooo."

"Please?"

"...fine. You owe me."

He cheered, coughing again part of the way through. "I love you, Glimmer, thank youuuu!!"

You laugh, shaking your head as you look down at your still blank notebook, waiting to be written on and full of potential. "You're welcome. Now help me think up a name for this notebook. I want to test my powers eventually and I need to keep a record of what I try."

"How about 'Soul Stuff'?" he suggests, and you mull it over for a second before nodding.

"That works. Not too flashy, short and to the point. Thanks, B."

"No problem, hun. I'm gonna go and drink some meds before I die from coughing up my lungs," he says, and you nod, telling him goodbye and ending the call. Grabbing your sharpie again, you bestow the notebook with the name Soul Stuff and hold it up above you, mind brimming with ideas.


End file.
